Magic Photos for Magic Kitchens

Hey!

I see a website as a shop front.

Your shop front, no matter what your business should be neat and tidy and well presented because they represent you and the quality of what you offer.

Why would you spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a pretty website but put terrible photos on it? It is exactly like having a beautifully architecturally designed shop but ugly rundown product displays inside! Examples of this are all over the Internet.

Recently Pat from Magic Kitchens got me to shoot 3 of his clients kitchens for use on his website.

Below are examples of shots I did for Pat compared to real examples that I found on some of his competitors websites.

Competitor 1.

Comparing photos of different kitchens is tricky but there are common differences in a photos quality that make a big differences in how the kitchen is perceived. 

Magic Kitchens 1.

This Competitors kitchen is underexposed (dark), crooked (especially on the left) and the composition is awkward (distracting objects in the foreground and the island bench neither square or angled and therefore blocking the eyes movement around the frame). Here, Magic Kitchens 1st photo has none of these problems.

Competitor 2.

 

 

Competitors 2nd photo is exposed fairly well and the vertical lines are... well... vertical, but to me the clutter on the benches, the draining rack and the hand towels on the oven are distracting. Having a bit of 'life' in a kitchen photo is good but too much and the wrong type is distracting.

Magic Kitchens 2.

 On the other hand... Magic Kitchens 2nd photo is clear of any clutter. To be honest it could probably do with a nice fruit bowl, wooden chopping board with crusty bread, flowers in a good vase or bottle of wine with glasses. (There is an honest critique of my own work.) Still, better less than too much.

Magic Kitchens 3.

Competitor 3.

Competitors 3rd photo has a very common problem... do you really think it is ORANGE. It is called 'White Balance'. It is a technical thing but basically tungsten light and daylight reflecting off wooden floors make white surfaces look orange in photos. It is easy enough to fix like Magic Kitchens 3rd photo.

Magic Kitchens 4.

Competitor 4.

Controlling light is what photography is all about. Magic Kitchens 4th photo has a strong blast of sun coming in the window (you can just see it in the middle on the right). I have used a range of tricks to get the shot and make it look good anyway... as opposed to Competitor 4.

Magic Kitchens 5.

Competitor 5.

Using camera flashes is a whole extra skill which they usually don't teach you in Photographers School until you've mastered everything else. 'Onboard' flashes or speed lights attached to the camera do not work for interior photography like this. Like Competitors 5th photo you get nasty pools of brightness and dark bits that didn't get the flash light.




 
 
I could go on and on but you get the picture... pardon the pun. If you want good photos for your website getting your friend with a big camera to do it probably won't work and even professionals who don't specialize in this type of work will probably have problems. Save yourself some time a give me a call!








For more information check out my website... www.bradhillimaging.com.au .

Cheers,
Brad.

My Photos in The Age...

 Hey,

This is from a little while back but this house got a big write up in The Age... 

http://theage.domain.com.au/design-and-living/newmillennium-designs-head-to-the-suburbs-20120330-1w1o5.html

It's nice to be published... but the comments weren't too kind to the Architect!

Cheers,
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au

Got Another Cover

Hey,

One of my photos on the cover of Melbourne Kitchen and Bathroom Design Magazine again. Around half the inside photos are mine too but it is always good to make the cover! In stores now btw.

Cheers,
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au

The 'burbs.

Hey!

Here is something I saw the other day while shooting in Point Cook. New developments have been popping up so quickly in parts of the outer suburbs that this type of suburb/farmland frontier is quite common.

I plan on enlarging this to roughly 150x50cm size print. The smaller image below is a detail of one of the houses so you can see the grain.

Cheers,
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au

NEW WEBSITE!!

Hey Hey!

My brand spanking new website is up and live... fairly excited and really happy with it. It took about a month for me to put together in my spare time using jAlbum and a bit of hack .html coding.

All new photos... (well 99% all new)... and almost 250 of them!

This one is a lot more flexible for me to edit and update so come back occasionally and especially check the 'Projects' section which will be added to as often as I can.

'Like' BOTH my webpage AND my Facebook Page if you haven't already... I won't pester you and it makes me feel (and look) loved!

www.bradhillimaging.com.au

Cheers!
Brad.

APPAs

Hey,

I have entered the APPAs! The Australian Professional Photography Awards. If the judges like them it is the first step in collecting award merits to rise through the AIPP (Australian Institute of Professional Photographers) membership levels.

I decided to only enter the Commercial/Architectural section, some of my non-commissioned stuff might have done ok in the Art or Illustrative sections but I like the idea of being judged on work that was shot specifically for a client.

These are the 4 images I entered, commissioned in order by Interior Designer Peter Schaad, Pool Builder Lifestyle Pools, Kitchen Designer and Builders Orana Kitchens and Architects Arch:10.

These images represent the best of my Architectural Photography at them moment.They are what I consider 'straight' architectural photography, meaning I composed and edited the photos to show off the clients work as naturally as possible without stylising filters or dramatic editing. It will be interesting to see how this style goes in the awards.

That said a lot of photoshopping has been done... the exteriors are composites of around 7 different exposures and on top of that there are numerous adjustment layers in each... but the finished result is meant to look essentially how you would see it with your naked eye in real life.

Click on the images for a larger view.

Wish me luck, judging is on 26th May at the PMAs.
(And thanks to Ali for convincing me to edit this post!)

Cheers,
Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au

Melbourne Museum

Hey,

My favorite Architectual Photographer is Tim Griffith. His work is amazing, simple and perfectly balanced composition and aways capturing light in a way that tells a story about both the building and its environment. Below are some of my photos that were inspired by cruising through his website.

 

Cheers,

Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au

 

Dusk Shoots.

Hey, 

Here is some work I did last week for Arch:10 Design and Construction. I was especially happy with the front externals all the angles and shapes photographed really well. It is a perfect example of how much better dusk/evening photo shoots really are. It is not necessarily about looking dark, but making the most out of the internal and external lights and balancing that with the ambient natural light, this really emphasises the drama of the design.

Cheers,
Brad.
www.bradhillimaging.com.au

Ontario Barns.

Hey,
I recently had a little trip to Canada and here is the first posting of the photos I took while I was away... enjoy! Click on the photo for a larger view.

Canadian farming is obviously a lot different than Australian. These shots were taken just before Christmas Day, it was around -10 and there had been a small drop of snow over night that freshened things up nicely. These barns are near Brockville, Ontario but similar scenes can be found accross the country.

Cheers,
Brad.

Cabinet Makers Photos

Hey,

Sorry it has been 5 weeks since the last post... it is now official the Laneways and Rooftops book is at the printers and will be launched with a bit of a party at the end of November... more details to follow.

I also owe you a time-lapse from the Eureka Tower shoot... I will get to it... been a bit busy finishing the book and getting the next round of magazines shot.

In the mean time this is the type of stuff I've been up to... here is a nice kitchen, bathroom and wall-unit by Elyse Cabinets.

This is an example of what is included in a shoot for the Magazine..."Melbourne Kitchen and Bathroom Design". So if you have just booked some pages with them for the next edition and are checking me out I look forward to meeting you! Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions.

I remember back in the old days when so much white would have freaked me out because controlling exposure and white balance in this type of space but maintaining a natural feel is technically a bit tricky. Needless to say I have it sorted now and love shooting space with such clean lines and flowing angles.

Cheers,
Brad.

The EUREKA Shoot

Hey,

The 4 hours I had on the roof of the Eureka Tower last night felt like 5 minutes. 3 Cameras, 2 Time-lapses and almost 20Gb of shooting... yes that is Gigabytes.

There was probably about 20% more cloud cover than I would have liked so the day shots were a bit flat and there wasn't much blue around BUT according to the tower management a night as calm as last night is rare up there. Apparently even the best tripods can have issues remaining rightside up most of the time so I'm not complaining.

This is going to sound obvious but it is a big building. From the top of Eureka the top of the Rialto is below the horizon... and not by a little bit. Even the office towers at the top of Collins Hill (Collins 101 etc) are well below the horizon. I could go on and on about the view/experience but I doubt anyone is reading this and are already looking at the pictures.

Firstly, a big thank-you to Will Watt who arranged access to the roof. He is a great photographer and runs the awesome blog... Melbourne Street... where he post a new photo every day of life on Melbourne Streets. I'm sure Melbourne Street will have some of his shots form last night on it soon too.

Here he is hard at work...

So here are a selection of shots from the shoot in rough chronological order and various stages of editing.... Enjoy!

The good old Miniature or Tilt Shift Effect. I have about 30 more of these to look at when I get a chance... time consuming/wasting fun!

 This is the shot (or a similar version) that I went up for... it will be use in the Laneways and Rooftops book as a double pager.

 Above and Below... similar angles here day and night...

 

That's it for now... I will definitely be putting up another post soon with the time-lapses... and if you like... maybe some more stills. Remember to 'like' my Facebook business page if you haven't already... it's good for my ego.

Thanks!

Brad.

www.bradhillimaging.com.au

www.facebook.com/bradhillimaging